The first-ever drive from North to South pole is complete – and it was all-electric
After nearly nine months on the road, an all-electric Nissan Ariya has become the first vehicle ever, gas or electric, to drive all the way from North to South pole, piloted by Chris Ramsey of Plug in Adventures and his wife Julie.
The Scottish couple, who previously became the first to complete the Mongol Rally in an EV, set off from the magnetic North Pole in March in a modified Nissan Ariya, built with the help of Arctic Trucks, an Icelandic company that specializes in preparing vehicles for the most difficult conditions on Earth. The idea was to use the Ariya as a proof-of-concept for future EV mods, and potentially to eventually replace the diesel vehicles currently used for Antarctic research and expeditions.
But it’s not actually all that far off from stock – the biggest change is 39-inch tires which required modified wheel arches. Other than that, the powertrain and suspension are mostly stock (just lifted), with no gearbox change as would have been necessary on a gas or diesel vehicle. Several gear solutions were added, along with tow hitches and some frame and underbody reinforcement.
Arctic Trucks called the mod the “AT39,” but over the course of the trip, the couple adopted a new name for their Ariya: “Sonrisa,” the Spanish word for smile.
Now, in December, the couple has finally reached the South Pole after nine months and 17,000 miles of travails along the way. Nine months may seem like a long time but it was actually the original plan, a schedule necessitated by polar weather and the changing seasons – and by climate change as well.
The beginning of the trip was actually a rush job, hurrying to get the car to the North Pole and back along polar ice roads which closed abruptly this year due to melting – something that has been happening earlier and earlier lately with rising global temperatures.
The first part of the trip was constrained by needing ice in the Northern hemisphere winter, in order to even drive on ice roads that are impassable after the ice melts. And the last part of the trip relies on arriving to the South Pole in the Antarctic “warm” season, as polar expeditions are not allowed during winter when the extreme conditions at the pole become even more impossible to handle.
The original plan had been to use a trailer with a small windmill to charge the car while parked while in polar regions, but the trailer didn’t work out on Arctic roads. But for the Antarctic portion, the Ramseys have been using solar panels to help charge the car at “night” (which can be any time of day – the polar region is in constant sunlight at this time of year), in addition to using generators when the weather isn’t in their favor.
The trip through North America was relatively simple on big highways with plenty of chargers (and a quick stop to meet up with us, and the OC Tesla Club, in Long Beach), except that the Ariya was significantly less efficient after modifications. Between the huge off-road tires, fenders, and roof rack with rooftop tent, range was cut significantly.
But these range losses are part of the message that the Ramseys want to send, anyway. If they can make it all the way from one end of the globe to the other with a 150-200 mile range (down from the 272-mile rating of the Ariya), this shows that most people don’t “need” the huge range they claim they need.
After a brief trip around the uncrossable Darien Gap, it was on to a new continent. In South America there’s not nearly as much EV charging infrastructure (though Nissan dealers have provided plenty of juice), so the couple encountered several difficult situations, including broken chargers and long stretches of unpaved road. But the trip offered an opportunity to improve the region in that respect, so Pole to Pole cooperated with Enel X to install chargers along the route.
The couple visited a hybrid wind/solar farm in Chile and had plenty of new cultural experiences for a couple of Scots from the opposite side of the world.
Then it was off to Antarctica, saving the most challenging part of the trip for last. The couple met up with their pals from Arctic Trucks, who had provided support for the Arctic portion of the journey, and are also supporting the Antarctic portion. Antarctic expeditions can’t be done solo, and Arctic Trucks wanted to see how their modifications would fare in the tough conditions.
We’ve all heard that cold weather is meant to be challenging for electric vehicles, but Sonrisa has been successful at navigating temperatures down to -30º or below. But it took a little inventiveness, turning the elements in their favor by building small walls of snow to keep arctic winds from freezing the battery overnight.
The couple has also used a collapsible tent specifically for the vehicle to keep it warm while parked, which helps with charging efficiency. They’ve even occasionally parked the car inside their camp tent to share accommodations for the night, if weather conditions made setup too difficult.
Getting closer to the 90º mark, the altitude in Antarctica gets higher and higher. The South Pole itself is at 9,300ft, or 2,835m, which means that in addition to the cold, the expedition has to deal with thinner air and less oxygen. Not only is this hard on the bodies of the humans on the expedition, but fossil-powered vehicles have a hard time starting up in these conditions – a problem that the all-electric Ariya has not had any difficulty with.
And now, they’ve finally reached the pole (after some last minute encouragement from legendary soccer coach and fellow Ariya owner Pep Guardiola). The expedition actually reached the pole on Friday, but had to turn off their satellite communications when they approached the pole, so were only able to update the world about their successful finish today.
If you’d like to look back on their trip, there’s a live tracker where you can look back on some of the expedition’s updates, and the expedition’s Instagram page (@poletopoleev) has a history of all their updates since the beginning, or you can visit their linktree for more links.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
China just laid out a plan to roll out over 100,000 ultra-fast EV charging stations by 2027 – and they’ll all be open to the public.
The National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) joint notice, issued on Monday, asks local authorities to put together construction plans for highway service areas and prioritize the ones that see 40% or more usage during holiday travel rushes.
The NDRC notes that China’s ultra-fast EV charging infrastructure needs upgrading as more 800V EVs hit the road. Those high-voltage platforms can handle super-fast charging in as little as 10 to 30 minutes, but only if the charging hardware is up to speed.
China had 31.4 million EVs on the road at the end of 2024 – nearly 9% of the country’s total vehicle fleet. But charging access is still catching up. As of May 2025, there were 14.4 million charging points, or roughly 1 for every 2.2 EVs.
To keep the grid running smoothly, China wants new chargers to be smart, with dynamic pricing to incentivize off-peak charging and solar and storage to power the charging stations.
To make the business side work, the government is pushing for 10-year leases for charging station operators, and it’s backing the buildout with local government bonds.
The NDRC emphasized that the DC fast chargers built will be open to the public. This is a big deal because a lot of fast chargers in China aren’t. For example, BYD’s new megawatt chargers aren’t open to third-party vehicles.
As of September 2024, China had expanded its charging infrastructure to 11.4 million EV chargers, but only 3.3 million were public.
Read more: California now has nearly 50% more EV chargers than gas nozzles
If you live in an area that has frequent natural disaster events, and are interested in making your home more resilient to power outages, consider going solar and adding a battery storage system. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate link*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Tesla is starting to experience some consequences for misleading Full Self Driving customers – at least that’s the finding of one arbitration ruling that has Tesla refunding one customer $10,000 plus legal fees for failing to deliver on their promises. Find out more on today’s legally challenging episode of Quick Charge!
An arbitration “court” found that Tesla misled customers with its Full Self Driving product, and has now been forced to refund at least one person’s $10,000 payment (plus legal fees) for the not-quite autonomous driving software. France, too, is piling on claims of deceptive business practices – but there’s some good news for FSD fans! If you’re still willing to pay for it, Tesla will thrown in 0% financing on a brand new Cybertruck.
Check out the relevant links, below, to learn more.
Source Links
Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.
New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.
Got news? Let us know!
Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike